A Subtle Kiss That No One Sees
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred and eighty-three:  rmm 3/8  Sitting at that table, pen in hand, ballot before her, Sue Sylvester makes a decision.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 18th cycle. Now cycle 19!_

_**READ MY MIND SET** - __I've been wanting to do something like this, in some way, for a while now. Listening to the song "Read My Mind" by the Killers, there were a set of lines I thought might be good for inspiration, so...here we are! There will be EIGHT, four in the first week of this cycle, four in the third/last.  
_**TODAY:** _"A Subtle Kiss That No One Sees"_  


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**"A Subtle Kiss That No One Sees"  
Sue **

As soon as she'd been confirmed as a judge, she'd started anticipating the moment where she could finally stick it to Schuester and push out that Glee Club. Everything was falling into place, and she was ready. She dressed in one of her finest suits and made her way to the auditorium. She took her place in the audience and waited for the show to start; New Directions were second up.

She watched the first choir go… or at least she watched Groban and Newton-John fawning over that ridiculously-named choir's use of their songs in their number… She felt herself sour up at how they were so easily bought over… She wouldn't be fooled… She couldn't wait for it to be done and out of her sight. Of course she knew what came next…

She couldn't exactly ignore Schuester's club as they performed, as much as she'd want to. All this time, all her motivations, it was clear to her, it was all about hitting at the 'administrative' levels where Glee Club was concerned… Schuester, Figgins… But she wouldn't think of the kids…

They were good, great… She'd always known they were talented; no amount of snark would hide this from her inner thoughts. She knew what they could do, both in flat out talent and mindblowing surprises, and from that she had learned to take their threat to her needs seriously. And Schuester… well, sure, he played a hand in this… not that she'd acknowledge it.

And then it was Vocal Adrenaline's turn. One thing was for sure: they were one well-oiled machine, precise… she could definitely recognize and appreciate it… Her Cheerios were similar in that respect. Still, there was something about them that rubbed her the wrong way, as a whole. She couldn't explain it… it was just there.

She was on task, when they removed themselves into the judging room. She was going to ensure that Schuester and his club would come in last, no matter what she had to tell Curly, Blondie, and Backstabby…

But then they started to talk, they said what she'd meant to… and they said worse. Sue Sylvester found herself the odd woman out, for once in her life… and all her ideas shifted with her, for that one moment.

She looked at her ballot… Three names, three candidates… And when it came down to it, her initial impressions were made to sound valid again… more than they did before. There was no way she could or would give her one vote to those ass kissers with the mildly inappropriate name. She wasn't going to let anyone cut corners, and this was just the same. Sure, she'd led those others to cheat at Sectionals, but she'd had ulterior motives. Besides, if they were willing to go along with it, then they had no business winning by regular means… They were puppets. And this club here, trying to win by stroking the judges' egos, they could not, would not get her vote.

And Vocal Adrenaline, well…. She'd come to this auditorium, that day, figuring she'd give them her vote, all with the idea of screwing Schuester over. And why wouldn't she? They were basically like her squad, Cheerios. They were precise, dedicated, driven… maybe to a fault. And that fault, that lack, was heart, spirit… What place did that have in competition? They were going after victory; they weren't looking to make friends. They would use and abuse their ties with people if it meant a win for them, frayed connections be damned. They'd forget it all in the end, they'd move on with the one thing that mattered: the win, all the gold. It was never going to be formality, because if they ever let themselves believe that, then a win might slip away… and that was the last thing someone like her and her Cheerios, or Vocal Adrenaline, could want.

And then there was… New Directions… The Little Glee Club That Could. She could say all she wanted, how they had no place, how they would only ever be nameless dreamers, how they were only good as an unmovable thorn in her side… But they couldn't be pulled out for a reason, she imagined. And she'd seen it, that day… Talent that moved them, moved everyone, and it was in their hearts to let it show. They had fought on, all through that year, to get to this moment, because it was worth it, to each of them.

They deserved this one… this win. The thought came to her mind in that instant, and she couldn't chase it. Of those three clubs, they were the ones; they deserved this win, this golden moment. Even as she'd mark 'New Directions' on her ballot though, she had a pretty good idea what was going to happen when all the votes were counted.

They'd do everything she had wanted them to do, at first, without her ever having to lead them to it. So in the end they wouldn't get the win she thought they should, she'd get what she wanted after all. They'd never know what she'd tried to do, but she would, and it was important to her. Sharing that with them, it wasn't something she did… She wasn't tipping her hand for anyone.

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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